Plea offered in statewide burglary spree

Published 10:16 pm, Tuesday, October 16, 2012

STAMFORD -- Nearly two years after their arrests, the state's busiest alleged burglars are nearing the point when they either have to accept a plea agreement or take scores of high-end residential burglary cases to trial.

At state Superior Court in Stamford Tuesday, Mark Missino, who was arrested in November 2010 along with co-defendant Bernard McAlister after police said they saw Missino at a storage facility in East Lyme with thousands of burglarized items, was given a plea offer to dispose of his 33 burglary cases stretching from Greenwich to Stonington.

But neither the judge, defense attorney or prosecutors would say exactly what the deal is. Missino, 45, formerly of Waterford now held at the Bridgeport Correctional Center on $1,690,500 bond, has only until Dec. 14 to decide if he will take it.

"If he does not accept by that date all offers will be withdrawn," Judge Richard Comerford said at Tuesday's hearing, adding that if the offer was not accepted he would move the case to trial.

McAlister, 41, formerly of Lisbon, has also been offered an undisclosed plea deal for his 33 burglary cases. Incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield on a $1,582,500 bond, McAllister is due to appear at the Stamford courthouse, where all of the cases are being prosecuted, on Nov. 9.

The two are suspects in 80 to 90 burglaries that occurred along the Interstate-95 corridor over a few years before November 2010, authorities said. Many of burglaries in Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, and Darien targeted expensive homes; police accuse them of hitting two or three homes a night.

"The exposure is substantial," DeSantis said. And a deal agreeable to Missino may not be worked out with prosecutors.

"It would not surprise me if the case goes to trial," DeSantis added.

DeSantis also filed a motion to suppress all the evidence found in the East Lime storage facility because he argues the police violated his client's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

"There is also questionable probable case of the warrant itself to have been issued in the first place," the motion states.

The big break in the case came Nov. 13, 2010, when a burglary was reported in Greenwich and detectives alerted officers in East Lyme to be watchful for McAllister and Missino while checking locations they were known to frequent.

Prior to the burglary, East Lyme officials held a meeting with authorities from the region to reveal that the two were known to drive a white Nissan Maxima and visit the East Lyme area, police said.

After Greenwich detectives contacted them, an officer on patrol in East Lyme and spotted the Nissan at the storage facility later that night.

Two men then fled when they saw the officer, who recognized one of the men as Missino, police said. Other officers arrived, but a search for the two men came up empty. They were arrested a few days later in Massachusetts.

Authorities say they found thousands of stolen items in the storage unit, including a $15,000 fur coat, a host of jewelry items and paintings, and a $5,000 bicycle. They came from homes including mansions in Greenwich and summer cottages in the Niantic section of East Lyme.

DeSantis said police reports and arrest warrant affidavits say police were able to recognize a vehicle at the storage facility only from a grainy photo taken at a previous burglary.

During the burglaries the two men allegedly took prescription drugs from cabinets and stored them in the Rent-A-Space unit.

Applegate and Shay declined comment on the motion.

Comerford told DeSantis he would not make an immediate ruling on the motion, but asked each of the attorneys to submit their motions before Dec. 14.